Dixfield teen riding atop car roof pinned under it after rollover

An M/T Pockets tow truck crewman retrieves a 1997 Subaru Legacy station wagon late Thursday afternoon from a drainage ditch along Thad White Road in Mexico. Its teen driver backed the car onto the dirt road's soft shoulder and the wagon flipped over and fell into the ditch, landing atop and pinning a teen who was riding on the roof, police at the scene said.

TERRY KARKOS | SUN JOURNAL

A 1997 Subaru Legacy station wagon being driven in reverse late Thursday afternoon on Thad White Road in Mexico rolled off the road and landed on its roof in this drainage ditch, pinning a teen who was riding on the roof, police said.

TERRY KARKOS | SUN JOURNAL

An M/T Pockets tow truck crewman retrieves a 1997 Subaru Legacy station wagon that was rolled off the Thad White Road late Thursday afternoon in Mexico, pinning a teen underneath it in a drainage ditch.

MEXICO, Maine — A Dixfield teenager who was riding on a car roof Thursday afternoon on Thad White Road was pinned under the car when it rolled into a drainage ditch, police said.

Firefighters from Mexico, Rumford and Dixfield lifted the rear of the car and held it up, allowing Med-Care Ambulance crewmen to retrieve the injured boy, Rumford fire Deputy Chief Richard Coulombe said.

The teen, whose injuries were not believed to be life-threatening, was taken by Med-Care to Rumford Hospital, Mexico police Lt. Roy Hodsdon said at the scene.

Citing pending charges, Hodsdon declined to identify the injured teen, the Canton driver of the 1997 Subaru Legacy station wagon or two teen passengers from Peru and Dixfield.

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The accident happened at about 4:30 p.m. on a dirt road that parallels the Webb River. Hodsdon said a 15-year-old boy from Canton, who was learning to drive, backed the car toward a curve, got into the soft shoulder on the outside of the curve and flipped the car over. It fell about 8 feet, landing upside down, pinning a leg of the teen who was riding on the roof, Hodsdon said.

Coulombe said they had enough manpower between the three fire departments to lift the rear of the car high enough to free the pinned teen.

Hodsdon said the boy, who had scrapes and bruises, escaped serious injury.

“Soft mud kind of cushioned the fall into the water in the brook,” the lieutenant said. “I talked to the ambulance crew and they said he was conscious and breathing. It could have been worse.”

One of the passengers complained of elbow pain but refused treatment, Hodsdon said.

Driver inexperience was cited as the accident’s cause.

The car was moving a very low speed, Hodsdon said. “He wanted to practice driving because he was getting ready to go take his driver’s test.”

The station wagon, which is owned by Barry Prescott of Canton, was retrieved by M/T Pockets Towing and Repair of Dixfield.